Suraya's Monthly Budget Update

Budget Update: November 2016

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November Budget Update Summary

Earlier this year, I set myself a target – to earn RM10,000 or more a month. It’s a big amount, and I came close to it in September 2016 at RM8,743.22.

In November 2016, I’m happy to report that I overshot that target. I earned a cool RM17,911.27. Breakdown:

  • RM168.63 in cashback via Shopback (note: referral link for RM5 bonus. None-referral link here)
  • RM4000 in advertising revenue
  • RM13,742.64 in writing services

How? I don’t know, I’m still digesting this. I mean, Alhamdulillah and everything. The crashing MYR against USD worked in my favour. I got new clients, one of them incredibly generous (told me to increase my fees!). My VA is a superstar. It feels weird to brag, almost feels like I’m gonna jinx myself, but there you go. When things work out, when rezeki comes, it freaking delivers man. *knocks all the wood in the house*

Speaking of house, I moved back to Klang Valley. That’s why my spending for November was so high at more than RM7k. Over half of what I spent last month was on Misc Needs – new things needed for the house. Now that I’m self-employed, I thought it would be a good idea to invest some money in making my living space – also my working space / home office – as comfortable and productive as possible. It feels great to move to a new place and furnish it (almost) from scratch 🙂 I’m going to do a before/after post with spending breakdown on the cost to furnish this place, once everything is settled.

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Yay of the Month:

  • Saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Twice. Can’t wait for the next installments. Can’t wait for gay Dumbledore to show up and make magic rainbows. Please J.K. Rowling don’t die ever, no one else can re-create the same universe!
  • Lifestyle upgrade. After years of budgeting and saving money and keeping living costs low, I’ve decided to live it up a bit and give myself a small lifestyle upgrade. I’ll actually sleep on a bed, not just a mattress, you guys! New bedsheets to replace my 4+ years old one!
  • My friends visited me in Ipoh and we had the best time and ate so many things <3 Finally visited the Yasmin Ahmad Museum (RM3 entry fee). Guys, I highly recommend this place. It’s now included in my Cheap Things to do in Ipoh guide.
  • Managed to sell off some of my old stuff and gained RM470 yay.
  • Saw a great show at TheatreThreeSixty – My Every Brilliant Thing by director Christopher Ling (Twitter: @chrisling). It’s about a man’s journey through depression, and the delivery was sweet; hopeful; raw. I loved the character’s list of ‘every brilliant things’ – small things that make life great. It was worth all RM38. Such a joy to experience.
  • The packing process was fun, if brutal. I tried to downsize my stuff as much as I can, but I think I still have too much. At least what I do have, sparks joy #KonMariReference
  • Had one of the best pineapple tarts in my life. My ex-colleague sells it from her instagram page here. I am #teamcrust more than #teamjam, and I enjoyed both. Thumbs up Kak Azreen!

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Nay of the Month:

  • Getting lazy in working out. The other day I challenged myself to do 100 squats, and I’m still suffering the aftermath. I have to climb up a flight of stairs to get to my bedroom and fml, so pain.
  • I love my new place, but it’s also a commercial building, which comes with commercial rates. Did you know that commercial buildings have to pay 20% more for utilities? Yeah…
  • AND I can’t apply for home internet either! I have to get the business one, which is more expensive. Decided not to get home internet for the time being. Sad 🙁
  • WHY ARE THE TOLLS SO EXPENSIVE?? I moved to Ipoh just when they started to raise the toll price, so coming back to it was a nasty shock. RM3 tolls? Uggghhhh
  • After moving, I have a lot of leftover boxes. I made this DIY cat scratcher for Yoshi my cat. Turns out he prefers to scratch on my mat rather than this thing. I even bought catnip to entice him, but no dice. Weirdo cat.

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Things to Look Forward to:

  • This bag to arrive
  • I’ve been here for a week and already made plans to attend like 5 events/meetups. Ahaha it’s nice to be back to Klang Valley.
  • I’m particularly excited about one workshop: Blockchain workshop with Vitalik Buterin ie the posterboy behind Ethereum. I’ve always wanted to see the guy in person. I have a small crush on him.
  • Gardening is one challenge I’ve always failed. Now that I have a balcony, I’m going to try again. I like the idea of having chilies and curry leaves at my disposal anytime I want lol.
  • More work, more money hopefully. I doubt I can earn this much again I will earn this much again.

Let’s make the best we can out of life and this economy. Thank you for reading and for your continued support for RoR. I appreciate it. Much love.

To read about my past monthly budget update, click here.


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8 Comments

  1. About the gardening stuff, you might want to consider Ikea plant – dunno the exact name, but some call it pokok duit-duit (RM1.90/pot). I’ve tried & failed many times in gardening too, but this one plant never dead (unless you forgot to water it for 1 whole month). But yeah, its not vege or herbs, but still..make your house greener :))
    & Welcome back to Klang Valley Suraya!

    1. I like the sound of pokok duit-duit, sounds very ong 🙂 Yeah I need hardy plants. I killed even cactus before..

      Thank you for the welcome Karima!

  2. Pretty impressive Suraya, congratulations for hitting 5 figures!

    I guess your hustle finally got what it deserved, hope this is just the beginning. . .

    Your writing services income comes from one source or many? Would you mind to brief little further on this,

    1. Hi Mugilan, thanks for the kind words 🙂

      I have multiple clients. It’s always a good idea to have multiple sources of income

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